The Darling Buds of May – Perform Players

Posted on May 11, 2012 by Jolyon

Perform Players present only their second production this week, staging the H. E. Bates play ‘The Darling Buds of May’ at the Brixham Theatre from Wednesday 9 to Saturday 12 May 2012.

Directed by Helen Jane Camp, the cast had the unenviable task of creating characters from a script that was most famously brought to life as the first episode of the 1990s TV series starring David Jason, Pam Ferris and Catherine Zeta Jones.

If the TV series brought a sense of warmth and good cheer in a time of recession, now is the perfick timing for presenting the stage play, allowing loveable rogue Pop Larkin the chance to woo taxman Cedric ‘Charley’ Charlton with his generosity, country life and beautiful daughter.

Andy Killen and Rachel Saturley headed the cast as Pop and Ma Larkin. With characters that are larger than life, they create a home that anyone would want to be a part of. Killen presents a character who relishes every trip to the drink cabinet, every kiss and every “Perfick!” whilst Saturley offers something of a calm sanity in the middle of events. She is at all times warm and full of cheer, with her family around her and plenty of food on the table.

In support were Vicky Nagy as Mariette and Ben Moseby as Charley. They quickly created a charming couple, in their own ways both awkward and attractive together. They were always at the centre of the comedy, with a touching romance that was at its funniest during a scene where Pop gets Charley drunk on a selection of cocktails. Moseby persuades with every fall, whether through intoxication or hiding from his employer under the table.

For comedy though, one need look no further than the full Larkin family. This production had a cast of young actors who made the play something very special. The Larkin children were played by Harry Bower, Millie Cole, Emily Craft, Georgia Burke and Kaia Pilbeam Camp, and as a collection of players, they were always in character and delightfully watchable, particularly during the meal scenes around the table.

The stage was divided in two, half in the house and half outdoors, which was used to great effect in a party scene in the second act. As the whole cast attend the party, the stage is very busy, with the majority of the dialogue being delivered on the ‘outside’ half of the set. Yet the really interesting business was happening inside, as the children and guests are actively involved in the party. Whilst not distracting, there were a number of stories playing out with interest – most amusingly Faith Saturley as Pauline Jackson, clearly bored by the whole event, sat back to back with Harry Bower’s Montgomery, seemingly considering flirting with each other, but both finding drink a better option.

None of the youngsters are wasted in this scene, with each having a very clear purpose in handing out drinks, mingling with guests and clearing up the empty glasses and it seems strange to say that I lost my way in the plot because I was fascinated by the performances from the supporting cast. As Mariette and Charley dash around trying to find Pop, again it is the conversations the audience are not hearing that look the most interesting and really tell the story.

With so many laughs in this production, and plenty going on throughout, this is an easy play to recommend. Lovely to see such a mix of ages on stage, involved in a story that is only ever uplifting. There is very little conflict in this play – and what conflict there is, is very funny indeed – leaving a story that only spreads cheer. The group may be young, but they know what they’re doing and they’re doing it with gusto!

Last review from the Brixham Theatre: Robinson Crusoe and the Pirates

The Great Gale of Brixham 1866 – The South Devon Players

Posted on April 1, 2012 by Jolyon

Have you ever turned on to a soap at a time of great tragedy? That moment that a plane crashes on the village of Emmerdale or a tram comes off the rail onto Coronation Street that sees a spike in the viewing figures of a television audience.

People who tune in to the big disaster plots will see people they are unfamiliar with gathering in a pub, sharing brandy to steady nerves and handing out blankets to those suffering. Viewers find themselves greeted by a community of devastated people pulling together and supporting each other.

The South Devon Players present ‘The Great Gale of Brixham 1866′ and do so from the reactions of those gathered in the pub. This one act play, produced and directed by Laura Jury, is based around historical records of the gale, bringing a true tale of tragedy, community and hope to a Brixham audience. It served as a reminder of how the fishing industry has been crucial to the economy of the town in the past, but that the same dangers remain today.

With just forty minutes to tell the story, we were given a snapshot of the lives of Brixham residents, some based on fact, others created to drive on the plot, but serving to deliver the action by the reactions of residents.

There were strong performances from David Jackson as James Milton, the coastguard leading the rescue efforts and Louise German, who played Mrs Brucknell, who had a harrowing emotional scene discovering her husband has been lost in the bay.

I was also impressed by Lorraine Saunders as Ruth and Lindsay Coope as Maria, who set the scene nicely before the gale shook the town and gave simple characters that you could care about when the bad news started coming in.

Not a lot to be cheerful about, but an important form of community theatre delivered by people who care about the subject matter and using drama and song to remind us of this small, but important turning point in the history of Brixham.

The Great Gale of Brixham 1866 will be presented again at the Baptist Church Hall, Winner Street, Paignton on Saturday 14 April at 7.30pm. Tickets cost £3 for adults and £2 for the under 16s.

For more information visit: southdevonplayers.weebly.com

Or find the South Devon Players on Twitter or Facebook

The Studio at Brixham Theatre

Posted on March 31, 2012 by Jolyon

John Miles performs for the Brixham Studio

There’s a new performance space in Torbay, and the Brixham Arts and Theatre Society want you to know all about it and more importantly, to use it.

Whilst the whole auditorium at Brixham Theatre has facilities for 260 people, the new reduced space can cater for smaller numbers with seating for 100.

This is a novel way of approaching concerns about performing to half empty venues, as BATS have removed some seats and put up a backcloth to create a more intimate space to allow closer engagement with the audience. The full size auditorium remains, but for those looking for something smaller, the curtain can be drawn to enter the Studio.

Gordon Oliver opens the Brixham Studio

BATS members and other guests were invited to gather as Mayor of Torbay, Gordon Oliver, opened the Studio for business. He praised the good work the BATS Committee had put into managing the theatre and keeping the venue alive and wished the Studio project every success.

John Miles hosted an evening designed to show the various forms of performance the space could allow, including drama, poetry, music, stand up comedy and general speaking engagements for business and public meetings.

In the last two years the Teignmouth Players and the Shiphay Amateur Dramatic Society have both brought productions to the Brixham Theatre – it is hoped that more plays will follow from local amateur groups now that a smaller venue will reduce the costs further and allow a space that is more in line with the anticipated audience for the smaller plays. On Friday 27 April 2012 the Dartmouth Players will bring ‘Dancing at Lughnasa’ to Brixham, so the venue is already encouraging groups to grow the local audience.

Maggie Duffy and Mike Weed

Whilst the drama is slowly building at the venue, BATS have found success with the monthly folk club, and local favourites Maggie Duffy and Mike Weed were on hand at the opening to perform in the Studio.

For more information about hiring the venue contact BATS

To find out more about the shows coming to the Brixham Theatre in the coming months, including adaptations of television favourite, ‘Fawlty Towers’ and H.E. Bates classic, ‘The Darling Buds of of May’ visit www.batsweb.org.uk

And whilst the Jolly Lion would normally limit promoting events to the plays and musicals at local venues, after an evening with such diverse entertainments, it would be rude not to offer a passing mention to one performance fixed for the end of next month.

Brook Williams will be appearing at the Brixham Theatre in a night of American Folk, Blues, Jazz and A Capella Song on Friday 20 April 2012 at 7.30pm. Tickets cost £10 and are available by contacting 01803 850899.

Previous reviews from the Brixham Theatre include the BOADS Pantomime, Robinson Crusoe and the Pirates and the Mick Ryan folk show, The Pauper’s Path to Hope

Robinson Crusoe and the Pirates – Brixham Operatic And Dramatic Society

Posted on February 26, 2012 by Jolyon

There are plenty of local traditions in amateur theatre that the Jolly Lion has been experiencing for the first time across the last twelve months and the latest of these has been the annual pantomime from the Brixham Operatic And Dramatic Society, which ran from 15 to 18 February 2012 at the Brixham Theatre. They staged the Alan P. Frayn variation on ‘Robinson Crusoe and the Pirates’, the most fashionable pantomimes in the bay this winter it would seem, and not without reason. From the creative team of Jane Barnby directing, with Peter Mead the musical director and choreography by Lindsey Hampson, this is a pantomime to give opportunities to all and showcase the local talent.

An interesting group, they have a large pool of performers from which to pick and allow everyone to play to their strengths. Greg Hopkins was the lynchpin of the night, playing Captain Seasalt, the straightest character and the recognisable man in the midst of the panto characters. Characters like this allow you suspend disbelief at all of the delightful madness that go on around you, and he made a warm father figure to Juanita.

Juanita was played by Olivia Vango, who gave a performance that stood out as the actress most comfortable on stage. Every song and dance delivered with an energy that showed that she was the benchmark to which everyone else would rise to. Together she and Taylor Bond, playing Robinson Crusoe, presented a young couple clearly having fun and very much in love. In the meantime, Bond showed some great skills in comedy, mixed with swashbuckling and thigh-slapping to rival any leading boy.

As villains on stage, Darryn Dunn’s Captain Cut Throat had a cheeky twinkle in his eye, revelling in the boos and hisses, whilst poor Andrew Baldrey as Davey Jones was lost behind a mask in a performance that the audience could see was frightening but could not make out all that was said. A constant complaint from shows this winter seems to be relating to microphones, but this was the latest in the line of shows where the technology lets down the performances. Probably blips easily ironed out, but the more technology we introduce to amateur shows, the more technical rehearsal we need to get these things right.

Jonathan Bond gave a lovely Dame as Margarita Juicilita, equally saucy with the audience and motherly to her sons, with Harry Bower as Nutty Nick whose concerns that his nuts would be nicked allowed for audience participation to delight all ages. As somebody easily pleased with a bit of slapstick, I enjoyed the scene in the ship’s galley tremendously, whilst those who prefer the bad puns and worse panto humour would be delighted by the antics of the show’s comedy double act. Throw in a cheerful fairy and a chorus who give it their all whether they be singing, dancing or chatting over a piece of rope and you have a crowd pleasing pantomime.

The more pantomimes I see, the more I consider the value is measuring their success by how much I laugh, but on a scale of right place/wrong place laughter. There are places where you know you’re being encouraged to laugh because of how funny it is (the greatest success in this show is Lindsey Hampson’s performance as Mumbo Jumbo, a cameo role in the second half which had us all in pieces, almost unable to breath for laughing) as opposed to the places where you’re not sure if you’re supposed to be laughing (on this occasion, a well-realised giant fluorescent snail surrounded by dancing octopuses as Robinson Crusoe bravely performs ‘Tell Me It’s Not True’ amidst the bonkers visuals with half the audience trying to stifle a laugh and the other half start tutting at those who have already broken down). Perhaps this is more than half the fun, particularly when there was a moment of silence on stage, and one of the leads looks out to the audience and says simply, “awkward!” A priceless moment where we all want you to succeed all the more.

Were I to measure the show on how much I enjoyed my night, the group are welcoming, the theatre is beautiful and the show was one that I was happy to talk about all week, so much did it bring me pleasure. These pirates brought me to the other side of Torbay and introduced me to a hidden treasure.

For more information visit: www.boads.co.uk

Last Review from the Brixham Theatre: The Pauper’s Path to Hope

The Pauper’s Path to Hope – Mick Ryan Folk Shows

Posted on November 27, 2011 by Jolyon

Brixham Theatre has built quite a following for the regular Folk Club over the last twelve months. To celebrate the success, BATS have brought the latest folk opera from Mick Ryan to the bay.

Six characters appeared to face life in the Union Workhouse, as the audience were taken back to the Victorian era. Tagged as a celebration of the extraordinary resilience of ordinary people, there were frightening parallels in the sentiment of the songs that remain relevant with the state of the economy today, whilst giving a stark reminder of how much worse conditions were then.

We were taken through the loss of employment that led a man to the workhouse doors, the reasons young ladies would enter into marriage, the break up of families within the workhouse, the rules and conditions inside and the general sense of making the best of a bad situation.

There are some nice upbeat songs with a dark humour such as ‘This is the Workhouse’ performed by Paul Downes and ‘Free at Last’ performed by Mick Ryan and Heather Bradford, which talks of the benefits of husband and wife being separated. When all six perform together there is a great sense of energy, finding their way through wonderful tongue twisters like, ‘Industry, Usefulness, Virtue’ which closed the first half of the evening.

Alone in the workhouse is Mary, played by Maggie Boyle, who enters a widow, but has one the most interesting account of life to offer through, ‘Who?’, ‘That’s My Story,’ and ‘Where Shall I Go,’ suggesting that the audience cannot safely trust all of the characters placed before them to be telling the truth.

If Ryan and Bradford as Mark and Helen are the couple enjoying their separation, then Richard, played by Roy Clinging and Jane, played by Judy Dunlop offer the couple hit hardest by the split, expressed in ‘Long Ago and Far Away’ and ‘Do You Remember?’

The arrival of The Tramp, played by Paul Downes, in the second half, brings more humour to the mix, but also allows for the wonderful, ‘Is That You?’ when men and women are allowed to mix in the workhouse once again. As the characters find a new hope, the final three songs of ‘Home,’ ‘The Path to Hope,’ and ‘The Pauper’s Path’ bring about a solid upbeat finale.

Although the Brixham show was one cast member down, meaning we missed out on the life of a child in the workhouse, the show had great balance with the six cast members. They took the audience on a journey that showed life before the workhouse, how they survive inside and what a difference hope can make. Plenty of toe tapping to be done – a splendid evening.

For more information visit: www.mickryanfolkshows.co.uk

For more from the Brixham Theatre visit: www.batsweb.org.uk

Katherine Howard – The Teignmouth Players

Posted on October 13, 2011 by Jolyon

There’s plenty of romance and politics at the Carlton Theatre this week, as the Teignmouth Players present ‘Katherine Howard’, a play by William Nicholson about the (divorced, beheaded, died, divorced…) fifth wife of Henry VIII. Directed by Wendy Hayden Sadler, this production runs until Saturday 15 October.

Quite wonderfully, there has been a change in pricing at the Carlton for this production, to encourage the audience to come forward rather than grouping together at the back of the room. It’ll cost you more to hide away at the back, and nicer for the performers if they don’t have to look over a few rows of emptier seats to get to you.

Whilst I’ll accept that Tudor history isn’t for everyone, we’re fortunate in the amateur world that Jonathan Rhys Meyers’ Henry VIII from TV series ‘The Tudors’, has brought the period back into fashion, as well as letting us turn a blind eye to questionable casting when it comes to the ages of characters. On television, they were all too young, in our theatres very often the reverse is true, but we don’t let it stand in the way of a good story.

Staged with very little scenery, the costumes are given the chance to shine against the blank backdrops, and with little else to distract you, the play hangs very much on the performances.

At the centre of the story is a romance between an aging crippled Henry VIII, played by Ken Hayden Sadler, and young Katherine Howard, played by Kate Edis. The script gives them some quite beautiful material to work with, as the king considers his younger years before she was born, and how a man must change his approach to attracting a wife as they get older and less appealing.

They are ably assisted by some good use of lighting at times of realisation within their relationship. So much of their coming together is based on looking and the way they perceive each other. The lights drop and raise at one point, clearly giving a moment that the penny drops for Katherine, she knows that Henry is a man that she can love.

The chemistry between the two is something very special and as things start to fall apart for the pair, you can’t help but hope there’ll be a different outcome. Sadly, whilst some liberties will be taken with historical accuracy in playscripts, the ending will always remain the same.

There were strong supporting performances from Kevin Booker as Thomas Culpeper and Angela Healy as Lady Jane Rochford. In his stage debut, Booker’s delivery is clear, confident and warming – the sort of actor that you could happily listen to and look forward to seeing again. Healy’s role is a joyful mix of comic and scheming in the first half, before finding herself undone and vulnerable in the second, a welcome mentor to the Queen of the day, whilst keeping an eye on her own interests.

Rather than a heavy trawl through history, this is a witty script with lots of good jokes to keep the audience amused. Whilst Henry and Katherine have some nice banter, it is Anne of Cleves, played by Tracey Burton, that gets the bulk of the laughs. She squeezes every last laugh out of the material she is given.

In the second half, Laraine Lynch received an impromptu applause for her cameo as Mrs Hall, interrogated as part of the investigation into Katherine’s exploits. A great comic role that she played surprisingly straight right up until the wonderful crescendo – not something you expect in a play about the Tudors.

A special mention must go to the King’s Old Retainers, David Potter and Cliff Raymont, who spent the evening shifting props and staging in remarkable period costume – a treat that kept scenes flowing nicely, whilst adding to the momentum of the humour in the script.

For me, the love story had a far better pace than the political intrigue, but in the court of Henry VIII you simply can’t have one without the other, and the central performances make it a splendid show.

The Players will also be taking this production to the Brixham Theatre on 2 and 3 November 2011.

For more information visit: http://www.carltontheatre.com/

Last review from the Carlton Theatre: Travels With My Aunt

Last review for The Teignmouth Players: Hi-de-Hi!

Available from Amazon: Katherine Howard (Acting Edition)

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